Sunday was the celebration of my 2nd cousin, Courtney’s birthday! I have been wanting to make her something special for her 9th birthday, but after working such super long hours, I was left with little time. I awoke Sunday morning (yes, I know…the day of the party), and couldn’t wait to get started on my special project for her…now that I finally cleared the time…. What to make/sew? My first thought was to make her some cute stretchy headbands, but I looked, and I had forgotten to buy some elastic. Hmm….new idea: a cute summer-y dress. I would have to design it, and guess her size….but, I love doing that….so on with the project…..
Picked a super-cute fabric I had already from a clearance sale somewhere in Florida (where we just moved from). Then, I know she is definitely more slender than me (and of course shorter), so I grabbed an xtra small shirt and skirt I had and laid them out on the backside of the fabric. I know I’m mostly crazy to make a pattern like this, but…..well, I think it worked…. I then traced around my clothes with a piece of tailors chalk.
And this is how it turned out…..Aww…. I loved it, and hoped she was going to also! I put puffed sleeves on it ’cause every young girl looks so cute in puffed-sleeves (remember Anne of Green Gables?) ! I added some ribbon around the neckline, and a short zipper in back. When I got done (in 4 hours) I realized it looked a lot like my Easter dress this year. I must have kept that design in my head…
And what’s better than to have matching accessories? So, I made this cute rosette hair clip to match, and threaded it through the birthday card. I made the flower with leftover ribbon and scraps of purple fabric, and then sewed a bendy barrette to the back of it.
I hope you have a super special birthday this year, Courtney! And…I hope the dress does fit : ). If not, you know I’d love to fix it till it does : )! **Update: 5/31/10: The dress did fit and Courtney wore it to school that week. I only should have used a much longer zipper in back to ease getting it on… This will be remedied shortly : )!
